Big Changes afoot

So I get to the garden last Friday morning and by the time I leave, the centre section has been remodelled. Now I know the levelling of the veg garden area was completed last week but this week we have a new semi circular bed mirroring the shape of the rosebed which is accessed through the boxus arch and the sloping area between the lupin wall and the cordon sweet peas has now been terraced to give a flat growing area in front of the lupins - more on that later.
Anyway, other than more weeding, I lifted the last of the leeks, sprayed off all the paths and all the as yet unplanted areas (the bottom section of the WF border, the rosebed, the area for the new fruit trees and the new semi circular bed mentioned earlier). I also sprayed the area round the edge of the cordon sweet pea bed and then proceeded to plant out the first three batches of young plants, so Gwendoline, Alan Titchmarsh and Orchid were planted out, with Vera Lynn, Tranquility and Jilly done this week after the arrival of the new 8ft bamboo canes. .
The sweet pea bed and the roesbed (which will be home to the Dahlias and Gladioli) have been given a feed with FB&B and will also get a top dressing of the same later in the season. On the subject of the dahlias, they have finally decided to get a shift on and are only now starting to throw up fresh shoots from their home on the greenhouse bed.
I have also put up supports round various plants, especially the campanulas againt the wall as these will reach 5 - 6 ft at flowering so really need to be held against the wall. Last year I was late putting in plant supports but hopefully this year, the supports will do their job and will be hidden as the plant grows.
Generally speaking everything is growing away strongly, we have buds on the oriental poppies, peonies and the tulips are just starting to flower, so it's getting there.
Anyway here a re a few photos showing what has been happening over the last fortnight.

Site of new veg garden

 

 

And again

 

looking up to raised bed in front of box arch

And again

 

Terracing the slope in front of lupin wall - for lots and lots of sweet peas next year

 

And the borders on Friday.

 

And finally, it only remains for me to congratulate Jen and Hamish on their engagement, and now I have to figure out how I am going to have sweet peas in full bloom for the end of June next year - not easy this far north but we'll have them.

 

 

 

May - and still it snows !

Well, not snow exactly but definitely sleet - and a lot of rain and cold cold winds. However, time is marching on, so I started by going down to the greenhouse and watering everything, then sowing some veg (cabbage, caulies, PSB, lettuce, leeks and spring onions) , two pots of Alyssum " Caopet of Snow" and about 70 white Cosmos "Purity" - these last will be added to the 50 or so that I potted on last week.
Sally has been buying some young perennials again so I also came across 18 mixed delphiniums, 6 trailing fuschias ( a freebie with her latest purchase which are coming home with me next week), 6 sea hollies "Blue Star", 6 Heliopsis "Summer Sun and 3 Anemone H. Jobert.
Add to the above the dahlia tubers, blackcurrant canes, phlox, sweet peas, and the greenhouse is filling up again.
After sorting everything out in the greenhouse, I weeded the bank by the steps down to said greenhouse - this is home to Mullein, Perovskia, Japanese Quince, Aquilegia, Alchemilla mollis and a couple of young buddleia,
I also planted out 3 Echinops in the lower of the two herbaceous borders. Things are still greening up but there are buds appearing on the peonies and most of the daffies are open now, so here is a pic of the borders for this week

Now, there was a bit of a misunderstanding as to how the digger was to set out the area for the new veg garden and things have changed as a result, but the area is now cleared and ready for paths etc to be marked out, though there is no real rush as it doesn't need to be finished until late on this year, so that I can get all the beds filled etc ready for the 2014 growing season. So here is a pic of the area, cleared of stumps and scraped back to a level that we are happy with.

There are more groundworks that have been undertaken this week and I'll update you all on these after I've been back to the garden on Friday.
Other than tying in the first row of sweet pea canes and helping Richard and Sally mark out levels for the digger for this week, that's about it.
Back next weekend.